NFA

NFA (AKA Not From Athens AKA Not Funny Anymore) were a punk band from Hampton, NB that were around in the 1990's. They were one of the premiere bands of the time and really kicked off the scene in and around Hampton. Andrew from the band answered some questions about the band in Feb 2025...and here it is. Enjoy!

band pic!

1. Who was in NFA and how did the band come together?

Classic Trio lineup Jason Ogden (Guitar and vocals) Craig Moore (Drums) and myself (Bass and backing vocals). Later extra guitar Scott Thibodeau followed by Brett Whittaker who transitioned with Jason & I into Hospital Grade with new Drummer Mike McAloon. 

There was an earlier incarnation Not From Athens (Athens, Georgia being a hotbed of music much like Seattle later was) That had several lineups I was in and out for a while.  

It was more of a Jangly REM type thing with a little Butthole Surfers on the side. When that band ended I regrouped with Jason and we had met Craig at a show my band at the time White Minority had played and found a new drummer. Decided to keep the initials NFA but it now stood for Not Funny Anymore. Our tastes had evolved into weird math pop punk madness.

live as Not From Athens

2. So from what I can tell Hampton, NB had a fairly big scene in the early 90's, and NFA was a big part of that. Was NFA the first big band from the area, or were there band before that.

Yeah for a town of about 5k population to have 5 to 8 bands on the go it was a disproportionate number of bands. Two bands started in my neighborhood that began in my basement using some of our gear to get started. The Scapegoats were the first bigger band from Hampton starting a few years before us in the mid 80s and definitely had a huge influence on us and the scene locally in general. The Scapegoats evolved out of a Band called The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. Members of which formed other bands as time went on.

And I can't forget Lizard. The Hampton band that moved to Montreal and gave us all the get up and go to tour and strive for bigger things than just local shows. It was a pretty tight knit scene that couldn't be contained. I did a fanzine and had a staff party at my place and ended up forming Date Rape that night followed shortly by our sister band the Moaning Lisa's. I taught Jen how to play Bass and provided the Drums, Bass and Amp for their first jams.

Flier from a Fredericton show

3. Was the Hampton scene separate from the Saint John scene, and if why why do you think that was.

Yeah , Saint John was always more metal than punk so that separated us musically, but we played the same shows and same venues and got along quite well. It became the same scene during the boom years just before Nirvana & Green Day broke open the new age of alternative/grunge. Punk and grunge were the norm everywhere with metal taking a back seat for the decade.

from Saint John in 2000.

4. You had quite a few releases. Many cassettes and a 7". How did those come about and what was the recording process like. I have noticed that a lot of bands from the area had pretty good recordings for the time.

We got whatever gear we could assemble to record with at first. From ghetto blasters with 2 built in microphones to 4 channel Radio Shack mixers that ran off a 9 volt battery and even P.A. mixers until we got wind of a guy named Rob with a home studio. The glory years began then as far as recording went. A digital 8 track with a a 24 channel console really let us capture a lot closer to what we wanted to sound like. He ended up recording quite a few other bands after we started working there as it did sound pretty great. We tried to record the 7" EP Playing Hell With Your Faith at Rick White's place but were not happy with the results and went back to Rob's Wavelength Studios.

5. Did you tour much at all? I do know you played Halifax, but did you ever make it out of the Maritimes? 

We played PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec & Ontario in Canada. In the USA we played Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & New York. Mostly traveling by ourselves but we did a tour with CATCH 23 from Fredericton in one car together (a K-Car station wagon with a sheet metal box welded on the roof.)

The aforementioned K-Car with the welded on metal box! 

Also did a few Maritime tours in support of bigger bands like GOB and CUB after booking Saint John shows for them and forming relationships with them. They'd come back the next year and have us play Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton & Halifax with them. And we actually ended up doing a cover of a CUB song that ended up on their CD Betti-Cola. We were doing demo's of some new songs and Jason thought it would be fun to do a CUB cover so we learned one and recorded it the same day. We played a few shows with them and stayed in contact with them and Jason just sent them a copy and they liked it & asked if they could include it on the "Collection of 7" singles" AKA Betti-Cola.

Touring in the US before the internet and 911 was lots of phone calls to set up. Sneaking in without work visas was as easy as telling the boarder guards we were just heading down to a friend's camp outside Bangor, Maine to play at a party. Crowds were a mixed bag of 10 to 100 at all ages shows put on by kids and bar gigs where they didn't pay unless people showed up. Sleeping in the van and overnight drives were common. Staying with the promoter was a godsend from time to time. We did one short tour where we played Fredericton then Oldtown, Maine then drove straight from Maine all the way to Halifax overnight. Hard on the mind and body. Always well received as I recall down south from small crowds to bigger ones. We thought we were playing a club called The Garage one time in NY State but it turned out to be the Garage in this kids house with like 60 kids and a couple local bands all jazzed for a touring band all the way from Canada!

6. NFA eventually morphed into Hospital Grade - what the reason for that?

Yeah as time went on we became a little more serious lyrically and musically and Craig was graduating from UNB so he was leaving to start his professional life and wouldn't have had time for the band so we recorded what became the first Hospital Grade album as NFA, found Mike McAloon to replace Craig on drums and figured it was a good time to rebrand. An indy label owner had become aware of us and flew up from Boston to see the band and signed us to release the album Written Axe To Trigger as Hospital Grade and the transition was complete. Later Brett left & was replaced with Adam Keirstead and Mike McAloon passed away after a car accident and was replaced by his sometime fill in Sean Boyer.

7. What everyone in the band up to now?

Well Scott, Brett & Craig are just living life, haven't been active in the music scene for a long time. Jason started a Solo project called Pennyblacks before the demise of Hospital Grade that morphed into a band since the mid 2000s and he plays in Papal Visit. I took a few years off from active playing, formed Punk band KILLDEVILS for a few years, took some more time off after that went down in flames. Currently playing Bass in Thrash Metal band Beyond Eternal and Metal/Punk/Stoner Rock band Stone MadeiN.

Stone MadeiN live

Download their Almost DISCOGPAHY HERE!  
It's just missing the "Full Of (Un)Comfortable" demo.

Listen to their many releases here:

NO MORE

No More were a hardcore band from Hampton, New Brunswick in the early 1990's. I first heard them on a compilation cassette from Saint John, NB called No In-City Venue. They stood out on the comp for sounding much more on the hardcore side of things, rather than punk, which was very unusual in Atlantic Canada at the time. Until recently, I had never heard any other songs by them, but then I tracked down their demo tape from 1993 and posted it on YouTube. Then I found out about a second demo also from 1993 titled "Within" that I'll be posting for the first time today. I found out they played in Halifax and somehow I missed the show! I tracked down their singer Mark in Jan 2025 for this brief interview. You can also find all their recorded material on their Bandcamp HERE! 

Band pic from the early 90's

When did NO MORE start and who was in it?  Had any of you been in bands previous to this?

We started jamming as a group of friends in middle school in 1989/90 figuring out our instruments, piecing together a drum kit, finding a basement where we could jam, locating amps and microphones.  We would have various friends coming and going as the singer, bass player, guitar player at these sessions until we could really find out who was serious and could play as well. The band NO MORE was formed from this after school jam sessions in 1990/91 when we were 15 years old. The initial line up consisted of myself: Mark Marshall, vocals, Trevor Richard, guitar, Keith Whalen, bass guitar and Craig Jardine on drums. Chris Moore, who was 3 years older, had a driver’s license, access to a station wagon for gear, and could really play, joined the group as a second guitarist in 1993. No member of the band had really played with any other bands before we started NO MORE.  

You recorded 2 demo tapes.  Could you talk more about recording them.  How many copies did you make?

The first demo tape we recorded in 1992 when we finally had enough original material and a solid set to play live. We paid $50 to track the 8 songs on a 4-track recorder in the basement of engineer Rob Lavigne, who owned his own place at the time. It was cool to be able to sit around and drink a few beers and play some hardcore without worrying about one of the guy’s parents walking in on us.  Sounds funny now, but it was liberating feeling as a 16-year-old at the time. We laid down all the instruments live and overdubbed the vocals afterwards.  

The first demo, recorded in 1992, but released in 1993.

We recorded the second demo in 1993 after we added Chris as a second guitarist and had a new block of original songs. These recordings sound much better as engineer now had an 8-track recorder and we were able to separate the mixes a bit, plus we were also a better live band at that point as well. I don’t recall too much of this session other than we laid the musical tracks first and I cut class in grade 11 to record the vocals, as the engineer was working shift work and school day was the only time he was available.  

I think we made about 30 copies of the first demo and 50 copies of the second demo. I would make the demo from my Sony tape to tape component.  

Within demo tape from 1993

Did you ever play shows outside of New Brunswick? 

I also recall playing in Halifax at a venue on Barrington Street in Halifax called Café Ole.  I do not recall the other bands on the bill but we have a few pictures of the gig. I remember setting up and then sitting in the grass on Citadel Hill drinking a few beer in the dark before the show started. We had 5 guys loaded in a station wagon with all our gear for the trip to Nova Scotia. It was a tight squeeze, but I do recall it being a ton of fun.  

Flier from Sept 10, 1993 at Cafe Ole in Halifax!

I do remember our moms having a meeting to discuss if they were going to allow us to drive down and play the gig.  Five moms sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes debating if they should let their punk teens pile into a station wagon to play a hardcore show in a city 5 hours from their hometown. Of course they let us! 

Live at Cafe Ole in Halifax. Diggin that Gorilla Biscuits shirt!

Can you talk more about the scene in Hampton?  What was it about Hampton that there were so many bands from there, and not from right in Saint John? 

The scene in Hampton was fun.  All the kids in the area attended the same middle school and high school, and there was a big crowd of kids who were skaters (me included), listened to thrash metal or early Metallica, punk and hardcore music.  Any time there was an all-ages show most everyone attended. Bands like the Scapegoats, White Minority, NFA, Dead Corps, Lizard, anytime they would perform everyone would come out to support. Everyone wanted to be at the show and/or a part of the show, so bands started to pop up in Hampton, including No More, Unorthodox, Stay, and NYD.  Hampton seemed to be a breeding ground for punk/rock bands – we were all just having a blast hanging out and playing music.  

Flier from July 2, 1992 in Hampton, NB opening up for Random Killing

Most bands from New Brunswick were very punk influenced, or even early hardcore (Minor Threat, Bad Brains etc) but No More seemed to have more of an influence by second wave hardcore (Revelation Records bands) as evidence by your Youth of Today and Inside Out Covers.  Where did the influence come from?  How were you hearing stuff like that at the time.  Also I assume the band is named after a Youth of Today song!

NO MORE was heavily influenced by Revelation Record artists, like Youth of Today and the Gorilla Biscuits. I think it was the vibe and the messaging. We were not a straight edge band, like Youth of Today, but I know I personally liked the positive messages, stand up and unite around what you believe in no matter the cause. We were also influenced by bands like Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags, the heavy edgy sound. Like most kids discovering music before the internet, we did it at your friend’s place listening to records or at the local independent record shop. My older cousin had a huge vinyl collection of everything from Black Flag, GBH, Agnostic Front, Exploited, early Iron Maiden, you name it he had a copy, and I would spend hours poring over his collection anytime I was at his place. Mail order was also huge. I would order many of the Revelation artists like Youth of Today, Inside Out, Judge directly through the Revelation Mail Order catalogue. Yes NO MORE band name was borrowed from a Youth of Today song.    

The drummer rockin a BOLD shirt at Cafe Ole in Halifax

When and why did the band break up?  Did members go on to play in any other bands after?

The band broke up in 1994 when the core of the group was its final year of high school. Girls, life, jobs, secondary education plans all kinds of different reasons, got in the way of the band continuing after everyone started to go their own way after high school. We never played a show after 1994 but most of us have remained friends over the last 30+ years and still communicate regularly, visit with each other, have stood up in each other’s wedding and all that fun stuff along the way.  

Thanks for allowing me to reflect on our short-lived hardcore career.  It was fun to dive back into the memory bank after all these years.  

Recent photo of the band!

Check out their 2 demo tapes on YouTube here:

DOWNLOAD THEIR DEMOS HERE!

NEXT OF KIN

Next Of Kin - late 80's hardcore punk from Fredericton, NB featuring members of Neighbourhood Watch. I missed my one chance to see this band open for Sudden Impact in 1989 in Halifax, a decision I have always regretted. They put out one demo tape which is one of my favourite Atlantic Canadian punk releases. I got the details from their bass player Nick Oliver, so let's find out what he had to say!! And JUST ADDED....singer Peter Mccarty's recollections!!! MP3 download at the end!!

When/where did the band form and what were your influences? Were Guilt Parade and Neighborhood Watch already formed by that point?
Nick: Not exactly sure.. sometime in '87 I think. We were all high school buddies. At the time I was listening to a lot of straight edge HC, & thrash metal like DRI & SOD. Pete was really into The Exploited at the time as I recall. And yes, Guilt Parade and Neighbourhood Watch had already been going since all us guys were in our early teens. They were the bands ahead of us.
Peter: Next of Kin started in the garage of my skateboard friend Rob (can’t remember last name, sorry Rob). It was Steve Dugan (from Absolute Choke), Colin, Rob and myself. We were just goofing around and wrote what became “where is my head?”. Colin had a guitar, Rob had a bass, Steve did rhythm just on a plastic pail or something and I did vocals. I met Roman one morning skateboarding to school. He was a drummer and went on to take over for Steve. Rob had some hand issues and would cramp really fast. Nick would take over his duties. Tristan Pym joined as lead guitarist for a very short stint but didn’t stick it out. So the core band line up for quite some time was Colin, Roman, Nick and myself. Nick went to Montreal for University. John Vine had moved to Fredericton to go to University so we invited him to join. But he was a guitar player. Colin know how to play bass too so he moved to bass to allow John to take the guitar roll. I listened to DRI, the Accused, Dayglo Abortions, Scum, Corrosion of Conformity...

Who was in the band?
Nick: Me, Nick Oliver - bass, Peter Mccarty - vocals, Colin Maicher - guitar, Roman Van Liempt - drums

Nick playing bass with Next Of Kin

When did you first play out live? What were the shows like then?
Nick: Hard for me to remember our very first show, but most shows were small, around 100 people, sometimes more if the band had a really wide appeal (a band like the Nils or DOA for example). by the time NOK were around, I was putting on a lot of the punk shows myself with a lot of help from others, especially the intrepid Steve Staples from CHSR-FM, who used to do sound tech for me at a lot of my shows for a pittance.
Peter: First show was Dressed to Kill ’88 at the Exhibition Center in Fredericton. Great weekend!! Bands from all over headlined by No Means No (I believe). We did mostly shows in Fredericton over the years.




Did you get to tour much? I know you played Halifax with Sudden Impact.
Nick: Halifax, Moncton, & Saint John once I think, but that was all we did outside of Fredericton. I went away for a year or so in 1989 and the band continued on without me. John Vine (of System Overload, Safe, etc) took over guitar and Colin switched to bass. They may have done more out-of-town gigs of which I'm not aware.
Peter: We got to open for Sudden Impact in Fredericton. That was a cool show. They invited us (or we begged) to do the show with them in Halifax. That was our largest crowd we ever performed for. Halifax had a great scene. We did a show in Moncton once in a friend of ours basement, you know who you are Pierre! Last show: April 1991 at UNBSJ in St John. Great show! We did a 4 song reunion set one time when Nick’s band from Montreal came to town.

Halifax show poster

Talk about the recording the demo tape. How was it received?
Nick: As I recall, we did most of the recording in Roman's basement. But lots of it we did at CHSR-FM in their studio there. A lot of local bands did. It was the easiest way to get quiet rooms with some decent isolation, and if you were a working member at the station, you could use them for free. I think they intentionally built it in such a way that setting up a full drum kit whilst still being able to use the door was a problem, so not many bands did their drums there. But lots and lots of local demos have bits of work done there, both large and small. I don't remember the local scene really making a big deal of our release. We were a bit of an orphan musically. Four angsty, teenaged guys tend to make music for the entertainment of other teenaged guys by their nature, I suppose. Maybe it can't be helped. We had a lot of fun but only took it seriously when it was necessary. Colin and I were both in other bands at the same time.
Peter: The demo was made in the basement of a friend of ours, Andrew, over a weekend. He lived just off Montgomery St  and Regent St with gear ick had borrowed from the radio station. If you wonder what the cheering is at the end of Older Generation, it took us so many takes to get that song right. It was new at the time and long and was hard for everyone to get it done. When we finally did, we were all pretty happy. Andrew thought we should leave it in so we did! Crowd favorite song was Cops Suck Shit. We wrote that after I got a ticket for skateboarding. We walked out of a Chinese Restaurant on Queen St one day. I put my board down and put my foot on top of it, just standing there. Cop walked around the corner, saw me and gave me a ticket. Cops Suck Shit was born soon thereafter. Nick and I did most of the lyric writing. Roman was involved there as well. I think he wrote all of Rapist. Then we would just figure out the music together. Songs that I am proud of: Cops Suck Shit, Stage Dive, Blood on the Square. Favorite lyric (from Older Generation): “Lawrence Welk is not our God, and for that you think we’re odd” & “Look at me this what I am”. Wow, as I listen to this song, I remember how powerful the lyrics of that song are, the whole song.

Tell me about the (what I assume is) fake rivalry with System Overload.
Nick: The song "System Overload Sucks" is indeed just a joke song. SOL were among my favorite Atlantic Canadian bands. I travelled with them for about 10 shows through Ontario and Quebec in 1988, and I think as far as punk bands go, the rest of the guys felt the same as I did. Peter Rowan's Dressed To Kill Music Fest in 1988 saw f'ton play host to Moral Support and System Overload opening for Montreal's S.C.U.M. (now with Frederictonian Pat Oancia doing vocal duties). Bootleg tapes of both MS and SOL performances circulated our scene for a long time after that. So we had lots of love for them. I wrote the song out of frustration of so many of my own riffs were unintentionally turning out to sound like so many SOL songs - so I wrote a song where I could make a medley of them.

When and why did the band break up? What did the members go on to do after? (Musically or otherwise)
Nick: After I moved away the band went on with John Vine as mentioned previously. Peter and his girl moved in together. We never really spent as much time together again. Colin and I would play together again in another band that could never seem to decide on a name (but Rail and Ricky Lizard were among two that we did use). Roman kept playing the drums for a long time I think. I'm really not sure. it's been years since we've really spoken.
Peter: The band just kind of dissolved. I was going to College in Moncton and we just kind of didn’t have time for the band. Looking back, our first songs are kind of simple. But as we grew up and were together for a bit, we began to come into our own. Cops is definitely a good one. I think the last song I wrote “He’s coming for you” was very good also. We only performed it once, our last show in St John. I remember John having a copy of it on cassette…which I had a copy of that!

DOWNLOAD THE DEMO TAPE HERE:
NEXT OF KIN DEMO

Or just listen on the youtube:

VARIOUS - NO IN-CITY VENUE

This is a tape compilation from Saint John, NB from 1993. A good sampling of bands from the area from that time period. I'm guessing around this time there wasn't a stable venue for bands to play at. Not the greatest recordings on some of the tracks, but decent enough over all. Stand outs for me are No More and NFA. There's some weird stuff on here, that arent really songs...more like spoken word over strange music. One song inexplicably turns into a Doughboys song at the end for no particular reason. Neat!

Listen to it here:

You can download mp3s of it right here!!
NO IN-CITY VENUE DOWNLOAD

And check out No More's track here:

THE MOANING LISAS

Hampton, New Brunswick may not be the first town that comes to mind when you think about maritime punk bands, but during the early 90's there was a good little scene there and one of the best bands to come out of this era were The Moaning Lisas. Not only were they from small town New Brunswick but they were 4 teenage girls in a male dominated scene. During their time as a band they put out a 17 song demo tape and a split 7" with Halifax punk band The Chitz. Here is their story with some help from their singer Charlene.

Moaning Lisas live in Hampton, NB

The band consisted of Charlene on vocals, Janita on drums, Angie on guitar, and Jen on bass. They started out around 1993, not with the intention of starting an all girl band but as Charlene put it "We were friends. We were girls. Started a band." Simple as that. Hampton was close to Saint John, a city which had a pretty thriving scene at the time with bands like NFA, Dead Corps, Lizard, Society's Fault, NYD. They mostly played Hampton, Saint John, Halifax and Moncton. Cafe Ole (Halifax) and The Local (Saint John) were the two hot spots.

In the stairwell at Cafe Ole in Halifax

They put out a demo tape in 1994 consisiting of 17 songs, including 4 covers - Pushed Around by Screeching Weasel, 1,2,3,4 by The Putrid Girls, This Is Serious by The Lunachicks and The Crowd by the Circle Jerks (I think their Circle Jerks cover may be better than the original!) There is a distinct sound to the band, with the melodic vocals really making the songs stand out.

After receiving positive feedback from their demo tape they connected with Richard from the Chitz who helped make the split 7" come out. It was released in 1995 on Montreal label EnGuard and featured 4 songs by The Moaning Lisas, this time throwing in a Dayglo Abortions cover in along with the originals. The record sold out fairly quickly and they even got fan mail all way from Germany.

The band never offically broke up, they just stopped playing shows. As Charlene said "...life happened and we sort of went our separate ways. We all still keep in touch. I don't see a reunion happening though".

Fun fact - the cover art was based on an actual photo where the 2 bands fought to the death.

And of course...here is the demo and split 7":

MOANING LISAS DOWNLOAD!!!!

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Neighbourhood Watch were from Fredericton, New Brunswick and existed between 1985 and 1988. They released a 7″ EP called Death At The Hands Of Time on Real World Records based in Durham, UK. There were a few other bands with the same name, though these guys used the Canadian spelling of neighbour with the “U” in there. It was no small feat for a band from eastern Canada to have a record out during this time period. In fact I would say this is the first punk 7″ from this entire area. The following is an interview I did in Febuary 2011 with their vocalist Grant Forsythe. Enjoy! MP3′s at the end as usual!

Tell me about the start of the band. When was it and who was in the band? Why did you start it?
Ciaron Lewis and I had talked on and off about starting a band because really, there was fuckall else to do. Although there was a very early version involving Pat Oanicia (who went on to sing for S.C.U.M.) and Rich Ivey, we didn’t really come into our own until late ’85 when Ciaron brought Nick Oliver into the fold. For quite a while we had no bassist. In fact our first show, we had to bring in my room mate to fill in. Finally we settled on Rob Melvin for bass. That was pretty much the first solid line-up we had. It’s the line-up you hear on the 7″ EP and on the No Frontiers compilation EP. It was also the line-up that was on the first tour.
By the time we got back we were plagued with a line up that slowly kept changing. Other former members included:
Bill Brown, Tim Gorman, James Hamilton, Daren Greene, Steve Vienot, Johnny Whalen, Al Muir, Steve Duggan, and a few others who’s names I can’t remember at this time.

Neighbourhood Watch live in Fredericton, Dec 30th, 1986. Photo by Chris Vautour.

What was the scene in NB like at the time? Was there any sort of rivalry between Fredericton and other cities in NB or with Halifax?

I know there was a difference of opinion with the SJ (Saint John, NB) crew, but a rivalry? Fuck no. The scenes were just too small to warrant that kind of foolishness. I don’t recall any rivalry with HFX either. The HFX kids were always awesome when we hit there. I think we were somewhat tight with System Overload and Shane from Early Warning Syndrome is still a pal of mine to this day.

Did you do much touring? Any cool show/tour stories?
We only did two tours which went up to Ontario and back and that was in the summers of ’86 and ’87. I think even some of the shittier gigs were cool. We, along with The Jellyfish Babies and Florida’s No Fraud totally got screwed by a promoter in Ottawa and he pretty much had to be threatened with a baseball bat to get any money from him, but it was a wicked fun show. Ironically it wasn’t until two years ago when I was drinking with Colleen that we realised that we were both on that same bill and didn’t know it! We made friends with some bands like Problem Children, SCUM, etc…Cool tour stories? Not sure how cool, but some definitely memorable ones. We were staying at a punk house in MTL and I forgot exactly what was so funny but I fell backwards into a door and it flew open and there was this guy with his lady friend and his bare ass up in the air for all of us and SUDDEN IMPACT to see. There was much hilarity. Some loon in HFX tried to convince us that the street we parked on outside the YWCA was his property.

Montreal 1987 w/ SCUM

How did you get hooked up Real World Records in the UK?
I ordered a copy of a zine called 10 Years On and mentioned in my letter I was in a band. He asked for a copy of our Coming Of Age demo for review. He liked it and interviewed us. Then told us he was starting a lable and would we be interested in releasing the demo on vinyl. Naturally we jumped at the chance.




What about Guilt Parade – were they an influence or were you around about the same time?

Guilt Parade and NW were both around at the same time and would share bills from time to time. I don’t think either band had an influence on the other to be honest. If you can find it, get their “Animals That Talk Like Men” demo. It’s hands down the best thing they ever did and a total barn burner! (Ian – Oh you can find it on this blog!! – http://howcantheyintendtoheal.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/guilt-parade/ )

Dec 30th, 1986

When and why did the band break up?
I think our last show was in the summer of ’88. The band had gone through so many member changes that we spent more time teaching people the old songs than doing anything new. Nick was tired of doing it I think. Our last show resulted in a flooded building and some very pissed off people (I was channeling my inner Lee Ving that night.)
Other than Rob Melvin I still stay in contact with most of the former members.

Check out their Death At The Hands Of Time 7″ plus 2 live sets (Hamilton, ON 1986, Fredericton, NB 1988) and the song Time To Care off the No Frontiers comp 7″. The Coming Of Age demo is nowhere to be found just yet, but I have just found the Rage demo from 1986 and is now included!

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH MP3′s

Listen to the 7:


Or listen to the Rage demo here:

More photos:

The band also did some reunion shows in 2015 and have actually gotten back to together to record some new songs. Keep an eye out for that on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NeighbourhoodWatchBand/

Here is some footage from that tour:

GUILT PARADE

Guilt Parade were a punk hardcore band from Fredericton, New Brunswick from the mid 80's. They self released 2 demo tapes and then moved to Toronto where they put out an LP on Fringe Records. An often overlooked band when it comes to Canadian punk history, but never the less an important one which still has influence today. The following is a recent (Nov 2010) interview I conducted with Jeff Beardall - the main songwriter and vocalist for the band. As he stated to me...this looking back 25 years so some of the details may be a bit fuzzy. Complete discography at the end! 

Guilt Parade live in Halifax.

Can you talk about how the band started and what the scene in Fredericton, NB was like then. What year would this have been? What was the lineup for the band at the start and how did that evolve over time?

Jeff: The year would have been roughly 85-86. There was not much of a scene in Fredericton at the time, though there were quite a number of artists and musicians and the city had a pretty rich artistic community, but not much at all in the way of punk bands or live original music at all - it was all cover bands - top 40 crap and the like. The University did have a college FM radio station and that became a focal point for Rich and myself. We had a show on-air called the Journey Through a Body show (named after a Throbbing Gristle album). Oddly, I was not a fan of hardcore at first. We hung out with some punks who were listening to stuff like Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica and I really didn't dig the somewhat brainless lyrics of those bands - ha! We were Dead Kennedys fans at the time, but I didn't really consider them to be hardcore. I remember though, buying a BGK album around that time just on a whim (Jonestown Aloha) and totally loving it. Then Minor Threat and "Boom!", I was hooked on the energy and the scene.

The line up at the start was myself on guitars and most vocals, Richard Bird on bass and some vocals and Todd Merril on drums. I had played with Rich in a punk rock cover band that played a few shows in Fredericton...stuff like The Damned, Sex Pistols, PIL, etc.. after that band broke up Rich and I decided to try playing original songs and that's when we started The Beach Psychos. That band had Rich on vocals, myself on guitar, and a local rhythm section. Basically the drummer and bass player hated the music and Rich and I really felt limited working with them so we ditched that band and decided to try something new. Todd had been the guitarist in a St Stephen, New Brunswick band called The Lads...they did covers of post-punk stuff (Joy Division) along with some originals. Rich was great...he was a truly committed indie music lover and had hundreds of obscure records. Though we played punk rock covers and had started a hardcore punk band called The Beach Psychos, we listened to all sorts of stuff...obviously The Birthday Party was a huge influence (The Guilt Parade is one of their songs), we loved anything that was fucked up, challenging and loud.

I will say however that our world sort of changed when the Life Sentence 12" single by The Dead Kennedys came out...the A side was cool but the B side was Hallowe'en...when we heard that we knew something really powerful was happening...when Plastic Surgery Disasters came out...that was it...that album reset a lot of my thinking...suddenly we had a loud, dark, sinister, political, highly intelligent album to listen to that also had a wicked sense of humour...it remains one of my favourite albums of all time. That really changed my musical direction and it wasn't long after that that we decided to start a real hardcore punk band that did original music. We were hanging out with Todd at UNB so we asked him to drum for us...he wasn't really a drummer, but by that time we had been through playing with non-committed musicians in The Beach Psychos and none of them had been able or willing to keep up with the speed and none of them were really committed to being in a real band with ambitions to record and tour. So the three of us got together and played some hardcore and punk covers to get the juices flowing and then rich and i started writing original songs...that came pretty quickly..I'd say in a few months we had enough songs to record the first tape - An Irrational Fear Of Clowns. The first songs were certainly influenced, if not in sound certainly in vibe, by bands like Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, BGK...

After we got to Toronto we lost Todd, went through another drummer, Mike and then hooked up with Chris Lee. Rich left for Montreal and we got Brad to play bass, Brad went to BC and we got Steve on bass, then we finally found Jim Field who stuck with us for some time on bass. Near the very end we had Dallas Good on second guitar and the Brent Ruddy on bass. Then the band ended.

How were your first 2 demos received? Was there any backlash from Americans about the the song Let's Be Honest (the lyrics say America sucks a lot)? did you ever release anything else besides the 2 demos and LP? i know you were on a few compilations.

It was always a surprise to find out that other people actually enjoyed the music we were creating. I remember being very encouraged by Tim Yohannon's review of the first tape, An Irrational Fear of Clowns. When the really positive review came from MRR for the second tape, I knew we had something going on that could probably get pretty popular. That review gave me a lot of confidence to head to Toronto and try our luck. As far as back lash goes, I don't think most of the people in the states who would have bought our tape would really have been too angry about our comments. I do remember one young kid from California who I had corresponded with having some negative comments about the song but I also remember that he had mentioned in the same letter how happy he was that America had 'kicked Libya's ass' when they bombed Tripoli and Benghazi, so I didn't really worry about his opinion that much. Later when we toured with MDC and Forced Anger through the States there were a couple of 'close calls' mostly with national front style Americans, but we never got into a fight once.

We never released anything beyond those 3 recordings. We were on the It Came From Canada comps and a few others and probably a few I never knew about! We did record some other demos for a second album. Some of which were pretty good, but we basically ran out of energy and motivation and Fringe was not that interested - they were a strange bunch, but I'm thankful for the help they gave us for the Coprophobia LP.

Did you tour much around the Maritimes? Ever make it to Halifax and if so who did you play with there? What about elsewhere in Canada or even the States?

We did a little touring of the Maritimes when we we were based in Fredericton. This would have been the first version of the band - myself, Todd Merril on drums and Richard Bird on bass...the same line-up that did the first two tapes that were reviewed in MRR. I think we went to Halifax twice but the one time I can remember for sure was with The Nils. We had put on a show with the Nils in Fredericton and we played with them there. Then we were able to book a show in Halifax with The Nils, The Jellyfishbabies and us. I've talked to Chris Murphy from Sloan about this show and he says that this was the show that convinced him that he could start a band. The Nils were great...Eloit Bertholet from The Dub Rifles was still drumming for them..this was before they got Jean Lortie. Their Sell Out Young EP had just come out and we loved them so it was a great privilege to play with them. Touring was really tough at that point...we were totally green and we were just not prepared for it. I remember our van was just an abominable piece of shit...it was really acting funny on the way back and when a mechanic looked at it, he said we'd been running on 5 out of 8 cylinders. He may have been lying, but it's entirely possible...it's a miracle more bands don't die while touring in beat up old vans. So that was the extent of touring for that line up. After we moved to Toronto and the band reconfigured as myself, Chris Lee and Brad...that was when the touring began. We put out the Coprophobia record and then toured across Canada...first out to Fredericton then back out to BC...there are some crazy stories from that tour...you only tour across Canada for the first time once and it really was a fantastic experience...it was totally diy...i remember welding the rust holes in the tour van before we left...building the equipment bunker/loft in the back of the van...learning how to clean the carburetor...all that fun stuff that indie bands do. we had great response across Canada...pretty well everywhere...the Sault, Winnipeg, Calgary, Kelowna...lots of great shows and great times.

Guilt Parade live in Halifax, NS

 

Let's talk about Ode To An Asshole...probably the first song I heard by you guys. Whats the story behind that song? hahah

Well we were in New Brunswick which is a bit of redneck enclave - there was always a bit of friction between the punks, freaks and the rednecks. We used to call them Grebs, after the tan work boots they all wore. I didn't get hassled too much by them but I knew people who did. So we thought we'd write a humorous song about an absolute caricature of one of these rednecks. Around that time, we opened for Deja Voodoo at a gig at the University of New Brunswick and I can remember Gerard Van Herk running up to us after our set and saying 'you guys are really, really good and you should come to Montreal to play and maybe send a song to be on one of our compilations'. That really took me by surprise because we had existed in this absolute vacuum of acceptance in Fredericton and really didn't know if we were good enough to tour to the bigger cities like Montreal, but Gerard made it seem like it might work out. I don't think we ever got to Montreal at that stage but we did get that song on It Came From Canada Vol 2, which really was a great step for the band. We also put a song on Vol. 3 but for some reason we gave them one of our weaker songs. I think we were told not to give away our best stuff by someone whose opinion we trusted. I can't really remember. In any case, Ode was a song that was easy to like and helped open some doors for us so I'm grateful for Gerard's early encouragement.

Why the move to Toronto? Did the whole band make the move? How did you get hooked up with Fringe with the release of the LP?

Rich had decided to go to York University and I was fairly fed up with the insular and conservative nature of Fredericton so I figured, what the hell, I should go to Toronto also. Our drummer Todd went up as well but things soured pretty quickly with him. He was more interested in being in a Joy Division style band and he was a bit challenging to deal with in general. We ended up hooking up with Mike, the drummer from Todd's old band, and he played with us for a while. That eventually didn't work out. He was an ok drummer but he didn't have the chops to really play the sort of technical hardcore we wanted to pursue. He left the band and Rich and I even thought about using a drum machine. At the time I was sleeping on the floor of Rich's York U apartment. I did that for quite a few months. I still remember how hard that floor was. Anyway we somehow found out about this drummer Chris Lee who had played with Groupoem and a couple of other Toronto punk bands so we met with him, gave him a tape and he was interested and away we went!
I'm a little fuzzy on the Fringe hook up...somehow we got out demo tape into the hands of Brian Taylor from Youth Youth Youth. He worked at the Record Peddler, which was owned by the same gang that ran Fringe. Brian was really enthusiastic about the demo and basically convinced Ben and Angus, the owner and manager of Fringe to sign us. I still remember going down to the old Fringe office on Brant Street to sign the contract. At the end of the day, Fringe didn't really provide much for the band beyond pressing and distributing the record..no real tour support at all, but they were one of Canada's biggest punk labels and distributors and being on Fringe really opened doors for us as far as touring.

When did the band break up and what lead to that?

All bands that have significant energy behind them eventually end up at a point where the tensions of being in a band can tear the band apart. It's just human nature. Some bands survive and some bands don't. Guilt Parade didn't. We'd been through a lot - one of our bass players had died - we didn't find out until well after it happened. He had played on one song on the album. We found being in Canada frustrating after touring through the States and seeing really awful bands with tons of tour support. I think a lot of the problem was finding another bass player who had some chops and was able to provide musical input. It never really happened. Also Fringe wasn't interested in putting out any of the new material. I just ran out of steam. It takes a huge amount of energy to keep a band propelling forward and I just couldn't muster it anymore. The scene was also changing a lot....bands like Soundgarden and Sonic Youth were starting to arrive and the whole idea of continuing to play what we played seemed a little stagnant. Chris Lee left town sometime in the very early 90s. I took some time off from playing and then started The Satanatras with Dallas Good who was in Guilt Parade briefly near the end which is another story completely!

May 3, 1986 in Halifax

The band Propagandhi lists you as one of their influences...how does it feel to have one of today's major punk bands say this? do you still keep up with the punk/hardcore scene today? What is everyone else in the band up to now?

It's a great honour to be recognized for our music by them. I have a lot of respect for Propagandhi. They are doing what I wish I could have with Guilt Parade. I don't keep up so much with the hardcore/punk scene today but I never really did even when Guilt Parade was going on. We used to listen to the more 'challenging' music of the day whether it was punk or not. I did really enjoy a lot of the 80s punk though, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, The Crucifucks, The Freeze, Seven Seconds, BGK, The Descendents... anything that was well written and well played whether political or not. I have always liked when people are motivated to please themselves and not some big machine and that continues to this day.

The main folks in the band I have very rare Facebook correspondence with. Chris Lee, who I was pretty close to, moved to BC with his wonderful partner Laura and have a couple of kids. He works in the movie industry out there and is doing well. He is not playing anymore, which is a shame...he had the greatest kick foot of anyone I've ever heard. Rich is in Montreal and lives an apparently shadowy existence. I haven't really spoken to him in years. Todd is in Florida and working as a nurse, I think. Brad (who toured the album with us on the first tour on bass) is most likely in BC. I saw him years ago when the Satanatras toured out that way. He was supposed to be in wheelchair from arthritis by the time he was 30 and he was touring with us when he was that age and looked great when I saw him. Steve, who played on one song on the album, died when the van he was living in, which was propane powered, blew up. Jim Field who played for a long time on bass and toured North America with us is still playing as far as I know and in Toronto. Me, I have two kids and a busy job in media production and I have not had time to play for some time though my wife, who is a singer songwriter, might cajole me out of my complacence. All in all we had a good time and got to leverage some fast little tunes into the great experience of touring across North America. Honestly, some days I think the best thing about the band was being able to tour. I know it gets tedious after a while. I have friends who had major international bands and the novelty wears off pretty fast. Nothing, I mean nothing, beats the experience of touring across Canada the first time in a shitty van with a few good friends and playing for new friends in new places. I'm glad we had a chance to do it and leave some kind of minimal legacy behind.

Fredericton, NB show poster July 1st, 1989

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The Guilt Parade discography